Seven Years
by CharCorvin
Summary: Draco's waited seven years for this chance. DHR


Harry chuckled lightly to himself as he watched the two interact. He never thought he'd laugh while watching Draco Malfoy antagonize his best friend Hermione Granger, but some things were too perfect.

"Granger! If you add that now we'll both go up in smoke. Put your arm down, woman!"

"Don't be such a sissy," Hermione ducked away from Malfoy's outstretched hand. "Sissy, sissy, sissy."

"I'm serious, Hermione!" He caught her arm.

The bottle slipped, the contents dripping slowly into their potion.

"What did you say?"

Harry grinned at Ginny. Sure, Malfoy was a git, but both had realized soon after Dumbledore's death that he was the only git for Hermione. They had the married couple routine down pat. But he'd never called her Hermione before.

The next instant, the potion sputtered and burned bright blue. A swirling vortex began in the middle while the two teens, arms still connected, stared down at it.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted, desperately trying to grab at her.

In a puff of smoke, the two were gone.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you, Granger? Can't listen to anybody else can you?" Malfoy stood up and dusted himself off. "For god sakes, learn to take a little help. Merlin knows where we are."

Hermione's eyes were wide. "We're on a battlefield."

Finally looking around, Draco realized exactly where they were too.

"Oh no."

He barely had time to pull Hermione behind a tree before a white-hot spell shot their way.

"Can they see us?" Draco asked her, looking at the Death Eaters that were slowly marching across the field.

"I don't know."

"What are we going to do?" He saw Order members Apparating.

"I don't know."

"Well, god, Granger! What in the hell do you know?"

"You're on our side."

"What? I bloody well am not. I've got to have a mask on." Draco scanned the Death Eaters. His father was there…he should be right beside him…but Goyle was next to him.

"There you are," Hermione pointed.

And there he was. He looked the same, so the war couldn't be far off. He looked brave, Hermione realized, as he stood with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione herself. She watched herself look up at Draco, with something close to care in her eyes. His own were resolutely forward.

Draco and Hermione drew farther into the shadows.

"What are we doing here? Fighting? I can't fight. I'm not even on the right side." He turned, ready to yell around the tree, but Hermione covered his mouth with her hand. "Whesmblodymask!"

"Draco, shut up. If you care to test the 'can they see us theory', get yourself killed, not both of us."

Harry exited the forest, head held high. And the war began.

The darkening sky was alight with a multitude of curses. Part of the forest had already burned down before Hermione and Draco realized they were in danger. The next wave, a group of centaurs, bolted towards the battle, separating the teenagers.

"Malfoy!" Hermione yelled out. She turned, and stood facing Voldemort himself. "Oh, no."

But he walked right through her; she tracked his steps and found Harry in his path.

"Harry, run! Harry!" Hermione reached for him but realized her hands went right through him. "Draco! Draco, help!"

A sturdy hand grabbed her around the waist and hauled her backwards toward the forest.

"They can't see us, Granger. There's nothing we can do."

Hermione watched with teary eyes as her best friend battled the Dark Lord. A blazing spell bit into Harry's arm, he fumbled his wand and dropped to his knees. Hermione buried her face in Draco's chest. A new voice startled them both.

"_Well, well, well. Draco."_

They turned, fear in their eyes. _Who could see them?_

Lucius Malfoy stared at them.

"Hello, father." Both Draco's said at once.

Lucius turned to stare at his son, who was holding his wand defiantly out.

"_Look who's all grown up? You think you can beat me, little boy?"_

"_Pretty damn sure," Hermione held aloft her wand and appeared from the darkness._

"What are you doing?" Draco asked Hermione.

"It looks like I'm protecting you…" she watched herself, stunned.

"_I'm so delighted the Mudblood could join us, we'll kill her together, Draco."_

"_I'm not on your side." Draco mumbled._

"_What was that, boy?"_

"_I'M NOT ON YOUR SIDE!" Draco shouted, he lifted his wand and muttered a curse, catching his father in the chest. _

_Lucius raised his wand and a bright yellow bolt of magic enveloped him._

"_Hermione!" Draco shouted._

"What am I doing?" Draco's eyes were wide as galleons. "Why am I calling out for you?"

Hermione watched herself crouch next to Draco. His breath was becoming uneven and a small trickle of blood dribbled from his mouth.

"_Hermione, please."_

"_Draco, Draco. Look at me." Hermione cradled his head. "Draco, hey. You're fine, babe. Look at you, you're doing great. We're gonna find someone who can fix this, okay?"_

"_There's no fixing this, Hermione. I'm dying."_

Draco slumped to the ground against the tree, "I'm d-d-dying?"

"We can change this, Malfoy."

"_I need to tell you something, something I should've told you a long time ago. Something I should have said the first time I saw you."_

Draco stood up abruptly, pushing Hermione out of the way. "No! You keep your bloody mouth shut!" He tried to stop it, but he remained unseen.

"_Shh, Draco. I know, alright? I know, honey."_

"Honey?" Hermione whined.

"_I need to say this, I need you to know," Draco was loosing focus. He trained his eyes on hers. "Hermione…"_

"SHUT UP!" Draco yelled.

"_I love you."_

Draco paused, "I love her?"

Hermione stared, "You love me?"

"No," Draco replied.

"_I love you so much, Hermione."_

"Don't say that! If you tell her that, she'll know!"

_Hermione smiled through her tears, "I love you too, Draco."_

"I…love…you…too…" It was Hermione's turn to fall against the tree.

"You love me." Draco turned to her.

"You loved me first," she retorted.

The forest faded away, stone walls surrounded them again. They were back in potions.

"Hermione!" Ron grinned when he saw her return. "Invisibility Potion gone wrong?"

"Yeah, that's it," Hermione was shaking. "Right, Malfoy?"  
She looked around.

"Malfoy?"

But he was out the door before anyone had noticed.

Draco hadn't been at dinner that night. Hermione figured he was shaken up, witnessing his own death and all. But now that they knew…they could change it right?

"Hey, where you goin'?" Harry watched Hermione head towards the portrait hole.

"Just for a walk," she smiled.

"Uh huh," Harry smiled to himself again.

"What?" Ron asked from across the chessboard.

"A walk…with Malfoy."

"What would Hermione be doing with Malfoy?"

"Nothing," Harry rolled his eyes at Ron's ignorance. "Your move."

"Thought I'd find you here."

Hermione looked out over Hogwarts grounds from atop the Astronomy Tower.

"Go away."

"Ooh, scary," she leaned against the rail he was overlooking. "I want to talk to you, Malfoy."

"What ever about?" he mocked.

"It must be scary."

"It is." He agreed, his eyes glazed.

"Witnessing your own death like that…"

"What?" Draco took interest.

"Seeing yourself die, it's what's been bothering you right?"

"No, Granger. I don't care about myself dying. I can change that now, I don't care about it."

"Well then…"

"It's you!" He interrupted. "Us, it's us. Whatever happened or whatever is going to happen between us. That is what's bothering me."

To his surprise, Hermione rolled her eyes. "Malfoy, people say all sorts of stuff like that when they're dying. They don't mean it."

"You said it back."

"I…uh," she frowned. "It would have been rude not to."

"I'm not supposed to feel like this!" He threw his fist into the stone. "You weren't supposed to know!"

"Know what?" Hermione jumped away from him as he hit the wall.

"You weren't supposed to know I cared! Not until after…after Potter won." He fell onto a bench. "You weren't supposed to know…until it was safe."

"You don't care about me. You were just saying that because you were dying."

"Really, Granger?" Draco swept toward her. "Then why would I mention the train. Why would I bring that up? Why would I want you to know that I've loved you since the first time I saw you, if it was just because I was dying."

Hermione stared at him, unbelieving.

"I couldn't show you until it was safe for you, Hermione." She shivered, hearing her name on his lips. "I've been protecting you from the beginning for Merlin's sake!"

"How? By making fun of me? Ridiculing me for something that isn't my fault?" She shouted, unable to stop herself.

"Please. You want to know how it really went. Do you want to know everything?" He sneered, she resisted the urge to slap the smirk off his face. "Can you handle knowing?"

"Try me," she sneered right back.

"Seven years, Hermione. I've been in love with you for seven years. Maybe the first year was a little vindictive; you _were_ beating me in every class. I was brought up to believe people like you were idiots, with no place in _my_ world. You blew that out of the water, right there.

"Second year, I fell deeper. The Chamber was opened that year, remember? I told you, I told you as soon as I realized you were in danger. I said you'd be next, as a Mudblood. I warned you!"

The tears sprang to her eyes as the memory washed over her.

"Third year," he pushed her onto the bench and knelt in front of her. "I warned Potter that he'd want revenge against Black. I figured you'd be smart enough to keep him in check, but no. You decided to play hero and almost get yourself killed.

"Fourth year, deeper still. I saw you at the Quidditch Cup. I was hiding out from my father while he paraded around like an idiot while the Golden Trio was running from them. I said they were looking for Muggles and Muggle-borns. I told you to keep your head down."

He paused, the realization that he was telling her everything began to set in. He didn't want to go further.

"More." Hermione commanded.

"Fifth year," he obeyed. "We caught you after your little Army meeting. I knew the Death Eaters didn't really have Sirius Black so I tried to keep you and your friends in the office until Snape got word back to Harry. But again, you had to play hero and take Umbridge off."

"Did you ever wonder how your friends got away?" he asked. "Ginny, Ron, Luna, Neville? Yeah, you and Harry took off, but the rest were stuck with me. You want to know what happened?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I stunned 'em all, except Ginny. I told her the truth, I told her how much I cared about you. I knew Potter wasn't going to listen to anybody until he got to the Ministry, but I sent her and the others along. Ginny was armed more than you realized. Wasn't it strange that no one was injured while you were all in one group? The smartest witch of us all, Granger, and you didn't realize a protection spell when you saw one."

Draco sucked in a deep breath, scared for the next part of his tale.

"Sixth year," she prompted.

"I had to ignore you, pretend I didn't care or I'd be killed. You think I didn't know Potter was in the compartment? I hinted what was going on, Hermione. I hinted more than you'd know, hoping someone would catch on. And you did, all of you did…but it was too late. Dumbledore was dead, and I was to blame…so I ran."

He stood up then. "But I'm back now…and yeah, seeing my own death affected me more than I can say. It finally let me tell you how much you mean to me, Granger. It let me tell you how much I care about you. This is me, Hermione. I'm the one who's been in love with you all along; I'm the one who's been protecting you every step of the way. And now I need to ask you…I need to know what you're willing to do for me."

He took her small hands in his large ones, "Can you love me, Hermione? Can you?"

Hermione smiled through her tears, "Draco, you don't have to ask."

"I need to hear it, Hermione. After seven years of waiting, I need to hear it."

"I love you, Draco Malfoy."

The weight of the last seven years was off his shoulders. There are some things that change us, for the better or for the worst. Sure, seeing himself die had changed Draco drastically, he realized as he brought his lips to Hermione's, it was defiantly for the better.


End file.
